Reflecting on her season in late September, junior My Linh Li of the DeSales High School girls tennis team pointed to a loss to Hartley’s Rachel Morales as one of the season’s teachable moments.

“You want to go undefeated, of course, but sometimes you’re going to have bad days and the other person will have better days than me,” Li said of a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Morales on Aug. 30. “But I am just looking to practice for districts and hopefully state. I care more about what happens there. This is practice for that.”

Probably no one — not even Li — knew at the time how true her words would ring.

Li punctuated a breeze through the Division II district tournament by defeating Morales 6-0, 6-2 in the championship match Oct. 15 at Columbus School for Girls. Li earlier defeated Buckeye Valley’s Kelsey Baesman 6-1, 6-0 and qualified for state with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Columbus Academy’s Andrea Ballinger in a semifinal.

The top two finishers in singles and doubles advanced to the state tournament Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22, at Ohio State.

Li, who won the state doubles title as a freshman in 2009 with her older sister, Kim My Li, lost her chance to return to state in 2010 because of a right ankle injury.

“She was just dialed in the entire weekend,” coach Anthony Tienprasid said. “She was extra focused on winning district. She played about as close to perfect as I’ve seen her play.

“I look at her mental toughness and her footwork, which was really important because it was so windy. Some other coaches have told me her footwork is some of the best they’ve seen.”

The doubles team of juniors Izzy Ocampo and Chandler Sharkey lost 6-3, 6-4 in the first round at district to CSG’s Lauren Gerber and Tiffany Lau.

“In the regular season, (Ocampo and Sharkey) lost to their doubles team 6-0, 6-1,” Tienprasid said, noting that match was against Gerber and freshman Paige Quinton. “I think we faced a better team this time around. It shows how far they’ve come.”

•Sophomore Danny Helin of the boys golf team shot a 179 in the Division II state golf tournament Oct. 14 and 15 at NorthStar.

The Stallions’ only state qualifier, Helin shot 39 on the front nine on the first day, but shot 49 on the back nine. The second day, he shot 45 on the front and 46 on the back.

Helin tied for 35th, behind champion Clark Engle of Springfield Shawnee (154).

Springfield Kenton Ridge shot 677 to win its first state championship by four shots over Canton Central Catholic.

•Senior Samantha Chapman of the girls golf team shot 92 in the Division I district tournament Oct. 11 at Bent Tree and did not qualify for the state tournament Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, at Ohio State’s Gray Course.

The Stallions’ only district qualifier, Chapman finished 15 strokes behind the second and final state qualifier, Upper Arlington’s Jackie Hobson (77).

•Pete Ryan won for the third time in as many races to lead the boys cross country team to a second-place finish in the CCL meet Oct. 15 at Otterbein.

Ryan was first in a season-best 16 minutes, 55.41 seconds to help the Stallions score 49 points and finish behind St. Charles (25).

Luke Howard was sixth (18:22.4), followed by Ian Lawson (11th, 18:41.73), Dylan Griffin (15th, 19:34.74), Mark Omlor (16th, 19:39.66), Jesse Faulkner (21st, 20:08.3) and Anthony Hayes (22nd, 20:14.85).

Erica Davis’ seventh-place finish (22:03.95) led the girls team to a fifth-place finish in the CCL meet with 102 points, behind champion Ready (42).

Amy Schockling was 20th (23:40.09), followed by Rachel Braun (22nd, 23:51.28), Kristin Faulkner (26th, 24:36.41), Katya Barrett (27th, 24:40.48), Sarah Flint (30th, 24:59.57) and Addie Rupert (32nd, 25:08.15).

The boys team competes in the Division II, district 2 meet Saturday, Oct. 22, at Watkins Memorial. The top four teams and top 16 individuals advance to the regional meet Oct. 29 at Troy.

The girls team competes in the Division I, district 2 meet Saturday, Oct. 22, at Watkins Memorial. The top five teams and top 20 individuals advance to the regional Oct. 29 at Pickerington North.

•The girls volleyball team wrapped up a 6-2 league season Oct. 11 by defeating CSG 25-5, 25-9, 25-6.

The Stallions, who ended the regular season 19-2 overall, finished one match behind Hartley (7-1). DeSales split its two matches with the Hawks, losing 25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 on Sept. 13 and winning 25-19, 14-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-9 on Sept. 29.

DeSales received the No. 1 seed in the Division II district tournament, playing its first-round match Oct. 19 against Linden-McKinley at Pickerington North. A win would advance the Stallions to a match against Caledonia River Valley or Independence on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Worthington Christian Middle School.